Messages

61

General Radio Discussion / Re: Univision sells 18 radio stations in large markets for $60 million

« on: June 13, 2022, 1125 UTC »

Yet one more media giant (CBS, Radio Disney, and others previously) getting out of radio. Not exactly a vote of confidence for the medium, is it.

62

General Radio Discussion / Re: BBC to cut 1,000 jobs/Some Language Services Only Digital

« on: May 28, 2022, 0659 UTC »

hey, going all-digital worked wonders for Radio Disney. Just sayin'.

63

General Radio Discussion / Re: Becker bill to remove police radio encryption picks up support

« on: May 22, 2022, 0428 UTC »

Transparency. What a concept.

64

General Radio Discussion / Re: Trends in tropical bands broadcasting 2022

« on: May 18, 2022, 0542 UTC »

Most of the "tropical" stations I heard in the past were PNG, Solomon Islands, Malaysia (Kuching, Sarawak) and a couple Indonesians, and I think most of them were in the 49 and 60 meter bands. I never heard anything lower than that, aside from WWV on 2500 and hams on 80 meters and a couple hams here and there on 160 meters.

60 meters gave up a couple Venezuelans and Colombians in the 80s. Rumbos, and Caracol. The station out of Barranquilla... Radio Barquisimeto I think it was?

Definitely sad that most of it is gone. There was a magic to hearing tropical music and other tropical broadcasts filtering over the airwaves.

65

General Radio Discussion / Re: Trends in tropical bands broadcasting 2022

« on: May 17, 2022, 0347 UTC »

Conditions have been horrible most nights over the last 4-5 years, so that may be part of the problem with the overall loggings of lower band, SWBC stations. Rebelde is still audible on 5025 khz, they're pretty dependable over much of the US.

I personally never heard all that much on the Tropical bands, at least not over the past 25-30 years. For a while there were a couple Brazilians in the 4800-5000 range that I would hear periodically, but not recently.

66

Propagation / Re: Solar Cycle Sunspot Number Progression

« on: May 17, 2022, 0342 UTC »

Looks promising on the graph, but personally I'm not hearin' much of the resulting improved DX, at least not yet.

67

Shortwave Broadcast / Re: BBC (?)

« on: May 17, 2022, 0338 UTC »

12.025, 1515gmt., "BBC" interviews with persons about situation in Sri Lanka, also contemporary political history of Philippines.
(additional: maybe some US s.w. station relaying xmit. of BBC? I didn't listen @ top of hr. for confirmation.)

According to the BBC website, 12025 Khz is used between 1500 & 1900 UTC to the Middle East. Their website doesn't specify the language used. During the same time period, 12025 Khz is used to broadcast to South Asia, so my guess is that it might be in English.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2x9tqt6mc05vB2S37j8MWMJ/global-short-wave-frequencies

So, my guess is that you heard the BBC, maybe the beam aimed at Iran, Central Asia, and Afghanistan, as it's also roughly aimed over the pole towards the NW US.

68

General Radio Discussion / Re: Video: More Intercepted Russian Radio Comms

« on: April 07, 2022, 0620 UTC »

At about 7:51 one of the transmissions monitored didn't sound like a native Russian speaker.

Fascinating vid.

69

General Radio Discussion / Re: Voice of Greece extended at least two months

« on: April 07, 2022, 0609 UTC »

Explains why I heard them a couple nights ago.

70

General Radio Discussion / Re: Why Reviving Shortwave is a Non-Starter

« on: April 07, 2022, 0608 UTC »

Yeah, maybe the commentators in the articles have a point. However, China doesn't fund their numerous CRI broadcasts to much of the undeveloped world because the Chinese government is stupid. They target areas where internet access isn't exactly isn't in abundance, only rich people have satellite TV, and China knows the value of soft power. They even target Africa from Mali. Somebody must be listening.

71

Equipment / Re: SW Receiver Recommendations

« on: January 25, 2022, 1146 UTC »

Nothing is wrong with a DX-440. It will pull in most that any other receiver will. The key is an antenna. But make sure you have protection against static electricity if you use an outdoor wire. Two back-to-back diodes from the antenna to ground will work, to bleed off static discharges and save the radio's RF amp transistor from getting zapped.

That said, any modern Tecsun or Grundig portable with a DSP chip will do OK off the whip. I have a Grundig G2, a small digital readout portable with a DSP chip inside. I can hear most everything on it off its whip that my DX-398 will hear using a 30 ft indoor wire.

All that said, just don't expect to hear a ton on SW right now. The sun hasn't been exactly cooperating for about 5 years. Some nights and mornings I do hear a few things on the 25, 31 or 49 meter bands, but most nights and mornings it's WRMI and Cuba, with maybe Marti in the mix.

Sunspots won't really be cooperative for another two years or so. So even a great radio won't bring in a lot if the ionosphere is presenting nothing but static.

If you're in 4-land, you're pretty far south, so you may hear more than those of us in the northern latitudes, even with the sunspot cycle at a lull.

72

General Radio Discussion / Re: US CB to get FM

« on: January 08, 2022, 0511 UTC »

Who's on CB anymore?

The CB band is full of activity. I hear a lot of local traffic, including quite a bit of business use (primarily trucking companies), and note that I live in a fairly rural area.  Those in urban areas report considerable business use.   Plus the general chat by hobbyists.

Then when the band is open, it's wall to wall signals.

I am hearing a fair amount of FM, mostly from Latin America, but also domestic. And of course the UK CB band when DX is rolling in, which has always been FM.

You're farther south than I am, so that probably makes a difference. I haven't tuned the CB spectrum in probably a month, but last time I did it was el-deado. The time before that also. No outbanders, no Latin Americans above channel 40 -- nothing, really.

73

General Radio Discussion / Re: US CB to get FM

« on: January 03, 2022, 0048 UTC »

Who's on CB anymore?

That said, I don't see how FM would harm the band. It can really chop up an AM or sideband channel, though. Back in 1990 I was talking to some guy locally on the sideband and he said he had FM on his radio, so I asked him to fire it up. I wanted to hear it. On my AM/Sidebander it was horrific sounding hash.

I think 'export' rigs have had FM for years.

74

General Radio Discussion / Re: WRTH 2022: The Final Edition

« on: January 03, 2022, 0044 UTC »

Passing of an era, and I'm not feeling happy about it... PopComm, Monitoring Times, Shortwave magazine from the UK, Passport, WRTH, Ferrells UTE book (I still have a copy somewhere), and even the ham mags (most of which I think are gone), it provided something that the internet simply can't.

I haven't bought a WRTH in years, but then, it was because whenever I saw one I didn't have the expendable funds to purchase one. Last time I got an SWL mag was in 2011 or 2012 (?) when Monitoring Times was still publishing.

The lesson overall, I guess, is to enjoy what you've got while you can.

75

General Radio Discussion / Re: Favorite SWBC Interval Signal?

« on: January 03, 2022, 0040 UTC »

Mine was always Radio RSA's interval signal with the mellow acoustic guitar and bokmakerie bird. Always sounded cool, especially during the late afternoons when I was usually hearing the station's signal.

Radio Australia's kookaburra and piccolo rich theme music at the top of each hour was always cool to hear, as I tuned them in nightly for several years.